If you look suspicious, you can be murdered legally in Florida

Some racist follows an unarmed 17-year-old African American boy. The boy buys candy and iced tea at a convenience store and continues walking home. The neighborhood watch scumbag stalks the boy, murders him with a gun, and then claims he was acting under Florida's stand your ground law, which states that a person can defend himself from an attacker rather without fearing legal prosecution.

The law was intended so that victims of violent crimes like rape, robbery, and attempted murder could fight back without risking prosecution. It was not intended to give a person the right to pro-actively engage someone in battle, and if you win -- which isn't hard when your armed with a gun and the other person is a minor with no weapons -- then you get away with murder. However, the police didn't arrest the murderer. After all, the victim did look suspicious. He had suspicious skin tone.

Take away the guns and race, and no one would care about this sad story.

that is the most correct point made thus far. I support an armed population to protect themselves and me if needed.

@Dan,
you are correct, 7pm is not very late at night. That seems kinda early for a neighborhood watch patrol too. I wonder if there is a case of west-coast time stamp on the story? THat would make it 10ish, and that would match the early reports. But, the story details keep changing, and that makes it tuff. 7pm is not late for walking around in any area, and is pretty early for anti-crime patrol (unless the crimes in that area have been happening in the early evening)

Zimmerman was incredibly clever to induce the vic to attack him, punch him, knock him down, bang his head onto the concrete while telling him "I'm gonna kill you" etc.
The rumors that Tray was in fact a 12 year old alter boy testing his thug attire for a costume party are completely false.
His twitter picture giving the world the middle finger are completely misconstrued, he's saying "I'm number one", his index finger was just sore.

Now that you have more accurate info regarding the content and quantity of 911 calls, are you still going to allege Zimmerman is a racist?

If so, what is your new evidence?

Not new, old.

1. Zimmerman mutter "fucking coon" on the 911 call.
2. Zimmerman said they always get away.
3. Zimmerman was actively looking for blacks because he thought blacks were repeatedly burglarizing homes. Any black person in the neighborhood would be suspicious to Zimmerman.
4. He even called 911 unnecessary to report a suspicious 7-year-old black boy? Who the hell calls 911 to report suspicious 7-year-olds? And Zimmerman didn't say why he was suspicious of the boy, only that he was "concerned" for his "well being". Yeah, because a 7-year-old can really threaten your well being.
5. Zimmerman has equated being black while wearing a hoodie as being suspicious.
6. Zimmerman was way too pissed off during his 911 call to be simply concerned about suspicious behavior. The guy was seething with anger. This is not how a typical, rational community observer would behave. And there is no reason why mere "suspicion" would cause such rage.

Now, I could easily brush off one or two of these things. But there's a lot to imply racism here and it all adds up. It was never one thing that made me suspect Zimmerman is racist, but the whole picture of events.

The girl later heard Martin say, "Why are you following me?" Another man asked, "What are you doing around here?"' Crump said.

Crump told reporters Tuesday Martin cried out when a man bearing a 9-mm. handgun came at him. Police said Zimmerman, who was found bleeding from his nose and the back of his head, told authorities he yelled out for help before shooting Martin.

"She absolutely blows Zimmerman's absurd self-defense claim out of the water," Crump said of Martin's girlfriend, whose name was withheld.

Martin, who was in town from Miami to visit his father in Sanford, called his 16-year-old girlfriend in Miami several times on Feb. 26, including just before the shooting, Crump said.

The discovery of the lengthy conversations, including one moments before the shooting, was made over the weekend by Martin's father, who checked his son's cell phone log, Crump said.

The teenager told the girl on his way back from the store he'd taken shelter from the rain briefly at an apartment building in his father's gated community, Crump said. Martin then told her he was being followed and would try to lose the person, Crump said.

Fuck, it doesn't sound like Martin was the aggressor. He tried to walk away fast. He couldn't run, because a black guy running is "suspicious", so what else could he do?

If you were Martin, what the fuck would you do? The boy did everything he could to avoid a creepy stalker and still got shot. And now every conservative blames Martin saying he's a bad gangster who must have instigated the situation. No, he didn't. He was scared for his life, and rightfully so. Zimmerman should be arrested.

welp, so you now have a "she says" vs "he says". Dan, you can't keep pushing for this to be a race based case and retain any form of credibility. Just let that part go, and lets move on. THe racebaitors are destroying any focus on law or justice.

I watch "bait car" and "cops". I have some idea how high "truth" is on their list.

Lets say you go for a walk after work tonight at 7pm, and that walk takes you out of your neighborhhod. Lets say you notice someone following you. You get an uneasy feeling so you try to avoid them, but after a few minutes, they confront you.

1. What are your thoughts right then? 2. Are you scared for your life or well being?

All you want to do is go on your way, but this guy makes it clear you aren't going anywhere. You are trapped. The confrontation turns physical.

3. Do you try to defend yourself? 4. If you do, what if you get the upper hand? 5. Have you committed a crime?

Lets say you do get the upper hand. You are on top. Lets say this guy pulls a gun and shoots you in the chest.

6. Was the shooting justified? 7. Were you murdered?

Now read it again knowing the guy following you was black. Are your answers to all of the above questions (1-7) exactly the same?

Bottom line, race or no race, there are undisputed facts in this case.

Zimmerman pursued Martin against the wishes of the police.
Martin had committed no crime that Zimmerman witnessed.
Martin is dead.
Zimmerman shot him.

I can see zero set of circumstances given those facts in which Zimmerman did not infringe on Martin's rights first by pursuing him, and second by shooting him.

Zimmerman took away Martin's right to Liberty and Life not only without authority to do so, but without cause.

Zimmerman murdered Martin. Period.

If he goes to prison at all, it will be the same as getting the death penalty. His chances of escaping prison justice are not high.

Are you calling the operator a policeman, if so you are wrong. Are you saying the Neighborhood watchmen are not supposed to observe a prowler? If so, you are wrong. If a prowler changes locations, then it is be necessity that a watchmen must change locations too. Besides, Zim went back to his SUV to wait for police and the prowler jumped him there, at the SUV, where it had been parked, the end.

Prowling is a crime
Peeping in windows is a crime
Casing an area looking for open car doors, easy grabbed radios or phones or ipods, bikes, yard orniments, unlocked windows, open garages, homes with signs of nobody being home (it was dinner time and dark, so no lights would indicate empty)
Criminals in the area match the prowlers discription - exactly.
Striking a person in the face on a public sidewalk is against the law
Pounding someones head into the sidewalk is against the law

Dan,
racial slur found to be not there. THe third leftist media outlet admitted today. THat means the three media outlets that fanned the flames of "race" have all admitted there was no race in play.
Game,
Set,
Match.

The primary way race enters this is the fact that Zimmerman hasn't been charged. Yes, it is possible that it is extreme incompetence without any race factors, but that seems unlikely.

What kind of scumbags aren't bothered by systemic racism ?

Anyone who isn't severely retarded knows that Zimmerman is VERY LIKELY guilty of at least manslaughter. For the Baps of the world who want to argue this, I will acknowledge that it is possible (but not likely) that it is lack of intelligence and common sense rather than racism that leads them to their conclusion reflecting such a record breaking level of stupidity.(the truth is the two usually go hand in hand)

(just an observation Bap not name calling)

I don't know whether calling you a racist for your total inability to even begin to comprehend how wrong you are is worse than the level of stupidity it would take to not acknowledge that Zimmerman need to be charged and tried.

I'm not saying that race should affect the sentence. I'm saying that it still appears that race is the motive. But let's say it's not.

Explain to me why Zimmerman was seething with anger at Martin if not for prejudice? Explain why Zimmerman thought that Martin was suspicious? What exactly did Martin do to arouse such suspicion and hatred in the first place? I can't answer either of those questions without the answer having something to do with skin tone.

If Martin were white, would Zimmerman had followed him and confronted him? I honestly cannot believe Zimmerman would have. Do you?

you are calling an operator an agent of the police?? explain what that means? I mean, I am pretty sure a neighborhood watchmen is an agent of the police too, then.

THe same number of people seen Zim pursue as did see the prowler peeping in windows. Exact same amount.

I enjoy a conversation. It's the racebaiting that bug me.

@marcus,
You ask that Zim be charged and tried. Well, when the cops hit the scene they took his weapon (that's a right suspended), they cuffed him (more rights suspended), and they took him in (more rights suspended) and questioned him without need of his lawyer. That means he did not claim the 5th, he did not scream for his lawyer, he just sat and answered the questions. THe on-scene cops interviewed those who were willing to speak to cops. (next may be unrelated - but) Have you no idea how few are willing to speak to cops in a high-crime area?

Anyways, my point on this is that Zim was not "charged" because the evidence did not support a need to charge him or hold him. If he were a flight risk, he would be held and bailed out, for a later court date. You do not give the on-scene police any credit, and you do not give the interviewing police any credit. Not to start a poop slinging event, but you went race-crazy right off the bat. That, I honestly think, made it tuff for you to see any facts other than the racial crap that the media complex was pumping out.

I understand manslaughter to be accidental death. That does not apply from what I have read about Zim's interview. Self-defense is the only claim he can make. Otherwise it is no less than M2, in my uneducated opinion.

Have a good day marcus. This wind is cold, so a warm/dry summer is coming.

(of a person or animal) Move around (a place) in search of or as if in search of prey: "black bears prowl the canyons".
(of a person or animal) Move stealthily or restlessly as or like a hunter: "committee members prowling around the offices".

Not a crime. Martin didn't do anything illegal. And what's this about peeping? Where did that come from?

Bottom line, race or no race, there are undisputed facts in this case.

Zimmerman pursued Martin against the wishes of the police.
Martin had committed no crime that Zimmerman witnessed.
Martin is dead.
Zimmerman shot him.

True. Even without race being an issue, this is at least manslaughter if not second degree murder. The only thing that makes race relevant is establishing motive. But the state of rage that Zimmerman was in during the 911 call certainly shows that he was open to committing bodily harm or murder.

(1)Explain to me why Zimmerman was seething with anger at Martin if not for prejudice? (2)Explain why Zimmerman thought that Martin was suspicious? (3)What exactly did Martin do to arouse such suspicion and hatred in the first place?(4) I can't answer either of those questions without the answer having something to do with skin tone.

(1) No proof of Zim being angry on a personal level. Fear does effect breathing. Out of shape guys walking fast breath heavy too.

(2) Zim "may have" figured this prowler was no different than the last 20 bad guys doing business in the area. Out at dark, lurking, male, not from the area.

(3) See above. When a person walks like a duck, flys like a duck, and quacks, they sometimes may be mistaken for a duck.

I think the cops didn't charge Zimmerman because they didn't have enough evidence. Perhaps the cops would have charged Zimmerman later if the story hadn't exploded in the media. Sometimes, the police need time to gather evidence before charging a person. But we will never know now if that's the case. Now it's in the FBI's hands.

I certainly hope that Florida's Stand-Your-Ground law isn't applied to altercations started by the "defender". That would be really bad as I mentioned before.

Bap, I think you need to differentiate between evidence and proof. Proof is absolute and indisputable. Evidence suggests things and it's weight is cumulative.

I think you are misunderstanding the arguments made by others in this thread. We're not saying that Zimmerman should be convicted because there is indisputable proof. We're saying that he should be arrested because there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed. There's a big difference there.

I've already said that if a jury finds him not guilty, I'm OK with that. The only thing I'm not OK with is Zimmerman's claim that he is an innocent person who had to stand his ground. He went out of his way to put himself in the position where he killed Martin. That's not exactly victimization.

Now, I've listened to the 911 call and Zimmerman is clearly mad as hell that "they" always get away.

What is assertion is that Martin was lurking and prowling. He was walking on a public sidewalk, buying food at a public store. To assert that Martin was intending to burglarize a house is complete conjecture with absolutely no evidence whatsoever.

Does Martin's fingerprints match any from any burglary crime scene? Does Martin's face match any surveillance video of burglaries. Does Martin have a criminal record, particularly one involving burglary? The answer to all of these is no.

So why is Martin so suspicious? He's a black guy in a hoodie. Even Geraldo is saying black men should not wear hoodies. Well, maybe in Martin's case a hoodie was just a hoodie. It seems that a lot of people see a black young man in a hoodie as a thug. And that is just a little bit prejudice.

Of course, if my idea of having cameras on guns were implemented, we wouldn't be having this conversation because we would know exactly what happened.

"Racebaiter" is code for "yes I'm a racist, but if you bring it up I'll call you a racebaiter."

That's Code for Marcus is a Race baiting Moron. And clearly not very creative with Photo shop, I expect better out of you pal. Where's your race baiting Photoshopped picture to accompany your baseless assertion?

In order to be a race baiter, you have to deliberately try to deceive someone into thinking that race is an issue where it is not. Although such people exist, I have not seen any postings that lead me to believe anyone on patrick.net is race baiting.

The postings that do deal with race appear, as far as I can tell, to be genuine and honest appraisals. Now, I can't be 100% sure that someone isn't lying, except for myself. And I am absolutely sure, that I do not believe the above stickers were made by race baiters and that those particular stickers are racist and moronic.

Since this is an election year, stickers like the ones above are news. If this is the campaign that Republican voters are going to run -- the politicians sure won't -- then Romney is going to lose.

As I've always said, the Republicans need to lay off b.s. issues on Obama like his birth certificate and being a secret Muslim and address real issues. They aren't doing that.

Romney is correct when he said Obama failed to fix the economy, but Romney's plan is a utter failure too. Cutting the taxes of the richest 1% and deregulating is exactly what got us into this depression and created the income gap we have today. Of course, Obama's not doing anything to fix the economy either. Eventually, the banks will have bled enough of our money through inflation and low interest rates that the depression will end, sometime between 2016 and 2020.

OK Here's the Proof, the FACTS to support my assertion, that if blacks were to beat down a white guy it would not be a hate crime.

"Die Cracker Die!"

A 78-year-old Ohio man says he was a victim of a hate crime when he was severely beaten by group of youths -- who allegedly said "this is for Trayvon," referring to the unarmed black Florida teen killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

The man, Dallas Watts of East Toledo, told police he was walking home Saturday afternoon when he was confronted by six youths, both white and black, ages 11 to 17, FoxToledo.com reports. One of the youths allegedly said "take him down."

Watts said he told the youths, "Why me? Remember Trayvon." He told FoxToledo.com that he meant it in a "peaceful way," since he had nothing to do with the Florida killing. But police suggest the youths may have misinterpreted Watts' words as threatening.

"[Get] that white [man]. This is for Trayvon ... Trayvon lives, white [man]. Kill that white [man]," the boys are quoted as saying in a police report cited by the Toledo Blade.

Three of the six youths have been charged in the case, but police interviews didn't yield enough evidence to support hate crime charges, FoxToledo.com reported.

THe same number of people seen Zim pursue as did see the prowler peeping in windows. Exact same amount.

Let me make a clear and distinct point to you. No one has to have seen Zimmerman pursuing Martin because there is other evidence that supports this. Martin's body was found in the back yard of two residences away from the street. Zimmerman was in his car talking to the 911 operator and five minutes later when the police arrived, Martin is shot dead nowhere near his car.

Notice where it states Martin's body was found - In between 1231 Twin Trees Ln. and 2821 Retreat View Circle. If you put those two addresses into google maps, you will notice that the back yards of each back up to one another.

Are you following yet? In order for Martin's body to get into the backyard between two residences, Zimmerman had to pursue him there. Zim was in his car, which is on the street. He shots Zimmerman in the backyard. By definition he had to pursue him there. Unless you are claiming Martin pulled him out of his car and into the backyard. Is that what you are claiming?

you are calling an operator an agent of the police?? explain what that means? I mean, I am pretty sure a neighborhood watchmen is an agent of the police too, then.

Definition of AGENT:
one who is authorized to act for or in the place of another: as a representative, emissary, or official of a government.

A 911 operator is authorized by the police to act in their place while dealing with emergency calls on the telephone. Zimmerman was not authorized by the police to act on their behalf. A 911 operator is granted some authority, Zimmerman is not.

OK Here's the Proof, the FACTS to support my assertion, that if blacks were to beat down a white guy it would not be a hate crime.

From the article.

Three of the six youths have been charged in the case, but police interviews didn't yield enough evidence to support hate crime charges, FoxToledo.com reported.

The article just says that in this one particular case the police did not believe they had sufficient evidence to charge the youths with a hate crime, but three of them were charged with crimes.

As to why the police didn't have enough evidence or how close they got, the article doesn't say. It simply does not go into sufficient detail for me to render an opinion of whether or not the police did due diligence. However, when was the last time police discriminated in favor of African Americans?

If everything the victim said could be collaborated, then I'd say the crime qualifies as a hate crime. But I can't tell what evidence the police have this article.

The prowler was caught prowling and attacked. Prowlers do their work in odd locations. Not much else to say there. Had the ativity taken place in the front yard of Martin's home, then there would be an issue.

I heard on MAIN STREAM MEDIA this morning that Trayvon was on the street because he was suspended from school...he wasn't a Choir boy. That he was a football player at his school...he wasn't a little, weak, kid. That he was 6' 3" tall...6 inches taller than Zimmerman.

Why is the media trying to race bait this issue??? Are their ratings so terrible that they have to stoop so low as to manufacture falsehoods to raise their ratings ???

Would Bernard Getz have let his skull get bashed in, or would he have defended himself?

?? this makes not sense. What does a school suspension have to do with being on a street at night?

He was with his dad, visiting relatives, on a weekend. AFAIK, no public schools operate on Weekends.

I love the desperate attempts by White Whines to smear Trayvon. The kid had no history of violence and his suspensions were all for routine dumb kid shit.

Whereas we know that Zimmerman had violence in his background: Two confirmed Charges for violent crimes, mysteriously dropped, plus an unsubstantiated report of being fired for over the top zealousness as a security guard. The latter won't be confirmed until this case goes to trial, because the security company would fear a lawsuit if they released the information to the public. His inability to get accepted at any Police Academy when it was a lifetime goal also infers some reservations about his behavior.

What evidence do you have that "it is unlikely" that Trayvon initiated a violent confrontation.

Have you been reading this entire thread? Please do for more detail, but the basics:

1. Based on the current evidence Zimmerman's story seems to be likely a fabrication, in part or entirely.

2. Zimmerman has a history of violence and stalking others.
a. Domestic violence
b. Fired from security job for being too aggressive
c. Assaulting a police officer
d. Following another driver after a road-rage incident
e. etc. I think I am forgetting something you can read the thread for other examples of his history

3. Trayvon has no violent history

4. Zimmerman pursued Trayvon

5. Zimmerman was not the person calling for help that night (as was his story); so the person calling for help was probably Trayvon

Yes, based on what we know so far I think that it is unlikely Trayvon instigated any violence that night.

BTW, If you had a 6'3" football player on top of you, at night, bashing your head in...what would you do? Seriously -give me a straight answer to that.

You mean after I had stalked him and confronted him while he was out for a night time stroll and then tried to detain him? Is he crying for help during this time? Are the blows he is raining down on me light enough as to leave no marks? Am I a much shorter man with an aggressive authority complex? Do I feel emboldened by having the power of a gun in my pocket?